I really wanted a grizzly that looked real. But I like this one, too.

Well, I've had quite a few people ask who carved it and how they could get one.

Every other day somebody stops by to ask about it.

There have definitely been ebbs and flows in my career, but, you know, part of the reason is that I'm a mom. I have a five-year-old daughter. She really factors into my choices, and I never want to go too long without seeing her.

There's no experience like going down an empty freeway toward a hurricane and then looking in the opposite lane and seeing bumper-to-bumper traffic, people fleeing that scene. Or going to a toxic spill and seeing people go the other way. You talk yourself into thinking you're invincible in order to do that.

They've worked their buns off, ... What wasn't noticed in all this was the preplanning we did kept a lot of the flooding down. We spent three days before the hurricane made landfall going through all the ditches in town, pulling out shopping carts, basketballs, leaves and trash. That helped a lot.